Untangling the Association Between Goal Clarity and Public Service Motivation With the Moderating Role of Value Congruence

• Published date: 01 April 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/02750740231170013
• Author: Gook Jin Kim,Namhoon Ki,Taewon Yoon
• Date: 01 April 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

Untangling the Association Between Goal

Clarity and Public Service Motivation

With the Moderating Role of Value

Congruence

Gook Jin Kim

1

, Namhoon Ki

2

and Taewon Yoon

3

Abstract

Drawing on the socialization aspect of public service motivation (PSM) and the internalization process of organizational values,

this study empirically tests the argument that goal clarity leads to higher PSM, with a specif‌ic focus on the moderating role of

value congruence between them. Using data from 4,133 Korean public employees in the 2021 Public Employee Perception

Survey, the current study f‌inds that individuals’perception of goal clarity generally has a positive relationship with their

PSM, especially among those who have high individual–organization value congruence. We also discovered that certain

matched levels of both goal clarity and value congruence are crucial for the positive relationship between clear goal perception

and PSM to exist. This study concludes that the relationship between goal clarity and PSM is not straightforward, but instead

follows a U-shaped pattern, characterized by a decrease followed by an increase. This implies that perceiving clearer goals may

have a demotivating effect on some employees; those with relatively low levels of goal clarity and, therefore, low goal con-

gruence (i.e., lack of internalization of clear organizational goals) would instead be demotivated as they perceive clearer goals.

Keywords

goal clarity, public service motivation, value congruence, person–organization f‌it, person–environment f‌it, socialization

Introduction

The study of how institutional factors affect an individual’s

work motivation has been a major area of interest in the

f‌ield of management. In the f‌ield of public management,

this examination has not only conf‌irmed the relevance of

existing theories to the public sector, but also highlighted dif-

ferences that cannot be easily explained by general manage-

ment theories. To understand these unique phenomena,

public management scholars have sought to develop new

concepts and investigate the underlying factors that cause

them, and how they lead to different individual attitudes

and organizational outcomes in the public sector

(Bozeman, 1987; Rainey, 1982, 1983; Rainey et al., 1976).

Given this, goals and work motivation in public organiza-

tions have long received signif‌icant scholarly attention in the

f‌ield of public administration (PA). The political nature of

government organizations, which involves interactions

among various stakeholders, results in the presence of multi-

ple, conf‌licting and, therefore, vague goals, known as goal

ambiguity or lack of goal clarity (Bozeman, 1987; Chun &

Rainey, 2005a; Dahl & Lindblom, 1953; Downs, 1967;

Lowi, 1979; Wamsley & Zald, 1973; Whorton &

Worthley, 1981). On the other hand, the primary motivation

of public servants is distinct from that of those in other

sectors and is referred to as public service motivation

(PSM), which is described as “a particular form of altruism

or prosocial motivation that is driven by specif‌ic dispositions

and values arising from public institutions and their mis-

sions”(Perry et al., 2010, p. 682). These unique characteris-

tics require PA-specif‌ic explanations and theoretical

discussions on organizational goals and employee motivation

in the public sector.

Both goal clarity and PSM have been widely studied and

discussed in the last several decades with numerous PA

studies exploring the theoretical constructs and measure-

ments of each concept (Chun & Rainey, 2005a, 2005b;

Jung, 2013; Kim & Vandenabeele, 2010; Perry, 1996;

Perry & Vandenabeele, 2015; Ritz et al., 2016). Despite the

importance of these concepts, few studies have explored

the relationship between them (Caillier, 2016; Camilleri,

1

Incheon National University, Incheon, Republic of Korea

2

University of Miami—Coral Gables Campus, Coral Gables, FL, USA

3

Korea Institute of Public Administration, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Corresponding Author:

Namhoon Ki, Department of Political Science, University of Miami, 1300

Campo Sano, Suite 220A, Coral Gables, FL 33146-4401, USA.

Email: namhoonki@gmail.com

Article

American Review of Public Administration

2023, Vol. 53(3-4) 159–172

© The Author(s) 2023

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/02750740231170013

journals.sagepub.com/home/arp